


beauty and the horror

by aelisheva



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Exactly What It Says on the Tin, F/M, Multi, all the other canon ships like almond and klave will also make appearances!, but it's mainly about benjill, plot elements will be taken from the disney movie (both versions) and the original fairytale, since there is NO BENJILL CONTENT on this site i am going to make some myself.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26597443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelisheva/pseuds/aelisheva
Summary: "For the second time after their parents died, Ben was yet again alone with only his siblings to help them….but now they truly could never go back to the outside world without fear of others’ fear of them. A magic mirror was their only way to peer into the outside world. And the rose she’d offered them also stayed within the castle, for it truly had an enchantment on it -- it would stay in bloom until Prince Ben’s thirtieth year. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken.  If not, he would be doomed to remain a monster for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope.For who could ever learn to love a horror?"---Or, a BenJill (Benji?) Beauty and the Beast AU.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves/Jill, Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz, Raymond Chestnut/Allison Hargreeves, Sissy Cooper/Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 31
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [La Bella y el Horror](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170954) by [Arco_En_Cielo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arco_En_Cielo/pseuds/Arco_En_Cielo)



Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a handsome young prince lived in a shining castle. Well, to be more precise, the young prince lived there with his two sisters and four brothers, all of which (him included) were twenty-five years old. Although they had riches, a home, and family, they were all very lonely. (True, Allison had her young daughter Claire, but Claire’s father had recently just passed on.) They were orphans, and all they had was each other.

One winter’s night, a beggar woman knocked on the castle door. Ben went to answer it. He could barely see the old crone’s face under her thick red and black hooded cloak. However, he could see her veined and wrinkly old hands. In one of them, she held a single red rose as payment if they let her shelter inside from the storm. The rose’s thick stem was thornless, and its soft petals were a bright scarlet red….almost too red.

Ben sneered at the gift and shook his head. The crone just stood there, blinking, as if he hadn’t said a word. When he dismissed her again, the fallen snow around her feet began to swirl and shift. 

Her feet hovered off the ground, and she flew past him and into the foyer of the family castle. “Fools!” she cried. “All of you fools and rude, wretched little things!” She threw off her heavy cloak to reveal a middle-aged woman with curling blond hair and perfectly applied makeup.

Ben’s father had warned them all about a bitter old enchantress who lived beyond the glen, a woman who kept hidden and private save for her very large rose garden in her estate’s front yard. She was a wicked old woman, and only her daughter knew her name. But all of her enemies just called her The Handler.

Ben’s siblings scrambled in after him, desperate to calm the witch hovering above them all. “Your father never respected me or my power, and so it seems neither do any of you,” she continued. “You don’t care about or love anyone except yourselves. Especially  _ him. _ ” With this, she glared and pointed a finger at Ben. Her pointer finger became swallowed by a bright red glow --

“If you’re trying to hurt our brother,” his brother Diego shoved in, “you’ll have to go through us first.” The others nodded their approval, even little Claire.

The Handler hummed. “Fitting that you would be the one to speak up, seeing as you’re the one that’s always sneaking around with my daughter.”

Ben blinked. “Wait,  _ that’s _ Lila?”

“Don’t you  _ dare _ say her name.” She blasted him with a red bolt of magic, and he doubled over to the floor in pain.

As the others ran around screaming and rushing over to help Ben, the enchantress cursed them as well, one by one. She was determined to make them as beastly on the outside as she was sure they were on the inside. And that beastliness involved quite a lot of tentacles….

To stop anyone from going over to rescue them, the enchantress put a forgetfulness charm on the village right outside the castle. So now no one except her -- not even Lila -- would spare more than a passing thought about their royal family.

For the second time after their parents died, Ben was yet again alone with only his siblings to help them….but now they truly could never go back to the outside world without fear of others’ fear of them. A magic mirror was their only way to peer into the outside world. And the rose she’d offered them also stayed within the castle, for it truly had an enchantment on it -- it would stay in bloom until Prince Ben’s thirtieth year. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a monster for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope.

  
For who could ever learn to love a  _ horror? _


	2. Five Years Later

Jill would’ve crashed into the outside wall of Odessa’s shop if the barber hadn’t shouted. But luckily, just in time, Jill looked up from her book before she could walk straight into the barbershop’s closed door. 

“Next time you should watch where you’re going more carefully, Jill.”

Jill looked down at her old leather boots, which were now scuffed with mud. She must’ve also walked through a puddle or two today. “Yes, Madam.” With a quick smile and wave, she dashed away to a less occupied part of the street. Odessa never made fun of her for reading on the road, but it was still embarrassing to be caught in the act.

As she tucked her book under her arm, she heard a woman inside the shop mutter “She’s _never_ going to find a husband by staring off into space like that.”

Jill crossed the street, still going onwards towards her destination. Unfortunately, this side of the street wasn’t completely empty either. She walked by the three Swedish brothers who’d recently moved into town. One by one they all turned to stare at the book under her arm. They were probably surprised that it wasn’t stuck under her face. They’d only been in town for a few months, and already they’d learned to stare and glare at her like everyone else....

“Good morning Jill!”

Well, not everyone. Jill turned behind her to see the Widow Cooper and her young son Harlan walking towards her, both waving at her. “Good morning, Coopers. How are you two today?”

“Well, Herb from next door looked after Harlan again last night while I bought another pig for the farm. It’s always very kind of him to come by. But...I don’t know, it seems like he and Harlan are the only folks I talk to these days. It’d be nice to meet a woman my own age, you know?”

“I get that.” It had been a year since Sissy’s husband had died, and Jill still didn’t miss him. Hell, no one in town did. Everyone agreed that the widow deserved a spouse who was actually kind -- both to others and to their own wife and son.

A few paces after waving goodbye to the Coopers, Jill found herself standing outside her destination -- well, her first destination of the day. She wanted to get the less exciting errand out of the way first.

“Dave?” she called as she stepped through the threshold of the blacksmith’s shop, past the mezuzah nailed to the doorway.

“That’s what it says in my town records,” Dave cracked as he walked into the front of his shop to greet her.

“Did you finish polishing off my uncle’s equipment yet?” Jill asked.

“Yeah, just a little while ago today.” He reached behind a counter and handed her a burlap sack stuffed with shining metal dental tools. “You came right on time.”

Jill looked around the walls of the smithy, where fine silver swords were displayed in long rows. “Did you really make all of these? They’re amazing. Like something out of a swashbuckler story.”

  
“Aw, thank you, Jill. You know, _years_ ago my father and I were almost going to have a commission from the castle to forge a sword for Prince Klaus, for some royal ceremony or something. But then --” He suddenly stopped short, then blinked a few times. “But then….” He trailed off again, his eyes getting foggy and shiny...but then he blinked again a few times and it was gone. “What were we talking about again?”

“Um, wasn’t it the --”

“The order your Uncle Elliott placed! Yeah, that was it. I got all the rust and dirt off of them, just like he wanted.”

“Well….thank you, Dave.” She headed for the door and waved goodbye. It was always nice talking with him, but that wasn’t the _real_ reason she was so excited to go out into town today.

Placing her book in the sack, she strode out towards the bookstore -- and nearly bumped into Lila and her mother. Lila startled, but the old woman gave her a fierce glare under her thick black and red cloak and wrinkly old face. Not missing a second, Jill bolted down the street. Lila and her mother were probably the only people in town even _weirder_ than she was. Lila’s mother was a mean old lady who never went outside her house except to scowl at everyone. And Lila...she was just Lila. She spent too much time taking care of her mother for anyone else to know much about her.

But finally, _finally,_ Jill reached her destination: Chestnut’s Books.

“Good morning Ray!” she called as she walked through the door. She took her book out of the sack. “I’m here to return your copy of _Henry V.”_

“Thank you, Jill.” Raymond Chestnut took the book from her hands and walked towards the shelf it belonged on. “How did you like this play?”

“Honestly….it wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve read,” Jill shrugged. “The battle scenes were exciting though.”

“I agree,” Ray nodded. “And how about that speech about St. Crispian’s Day?” He put a fist to his chest and stared off into the distance, as if he were an actor on a stage. _“But we few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”_

Jill laughed. “Alright, alright, that was good too.” She walked over to a shelf and moved her finger along each book’s spine. “I think I’ll take...this one.”

“That one?” Ray’s eyes darted to the red-covered book in her hand. “But you’ve read it twice!”

“I know, but it’s my favorite.” She hugged it to her chest. “Far-off places, daring sword fights, a prince in disguise --”

Ray laughed. “Well then, if you like it that much, then it’s yours.”

Jill froze. Ray had always been very kind to her, ever since he opened up shop ten years ago, but this was the first time he’d ever…“Well -- well, thank you! Thank you very much!” she grinned. She couldn’t stop smiling all the way home.

“Hey there, kiddo.” Jill’s uncle Elliott waved to her as she stepped into the foyer of their tiny home-slash-dentist’s office. “Did Dave polish everything?”

“Yeah, here they all are,” Jill replied, handing her uncle the sack of metal instruments. 

Uncle Elliott wasn’t her real uncle, at least not by blood relation. But he had been a good friend of both of her parents, and was more than willing to take her in after they both succumbed to the plague when Jill was a baby. Although there were days when she missed her parents, Elliott was still a great uncle to her. Even if he was a little _too_ obsessed with proving that “creatures from other worlds” really did exist. 

“Hey Jill, did you want to come with me into the city to get some supplies to fix up the house?”

“Sure.” She always liked going on carriage rides into the city with him. Even though they were expensive, it was always nice looking out at the trees rolling by, and getting a lot of reading done.

Satisfied with all the tools in the sack, Elliott put the sack down and picked up his coat off the rack. A few minutes later, they were off.

By nightfall, Elliott had wound up trapped in the dungeon of a crumbling old castle.


	3. Entering The Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and now jill finally meets the beast! is his castle really as horrifying as it seems.....?
> 
> also yeah yeah i know jill references cthulu even though that story wasn't published until 1928. but YOU try describing a humanoid octopus man. /j

The carriage ride towards the city was long, windy, and cold. Since they had to travel up north, there was lots of snow on the ground….and lots of snow covering all the road signs.

“Are you sure we were supposed to turn  _ left  _ at that apple orchard?” Elliott slowly turned to Jill and then back towards the window of the carriage.

Jill paused. “I...I wasn’t paying attention,” she sighed. “I was too busy reading.”

Unfortunately, neither of them had brought any maps. Usually they didn’t go out this late in the season, so they weren’t used to having all the road signs washed over in bright white slush. The only thing left to do was to get out of the carriage and ask for directions somewhere. They passed orchards, barns, even an inn or two. But due to the cold weather, there were no signs of human life outside any of them. Not even the inns had candlelight streaming through the windows. Everything was dark and quiet. Everything, that is, except for the light streaming in through the windows of an old stone castle.

Elliott tapped the roof of the carriage and the driver parked in front of the castle lawn. The castle was a tall, gray, stony thing, and the lawn outside it was really more of a sprawling garden. Square green hedges blooming with red roses lined the gated path towards the front entrance. Strangely, the iron gate was open. Anyone could easily walk into the garden and up to the castle door.

Elliott slipped his coat back on. “Jill, you wait in the carriage while I go inside. This should only take a few minutes.”

Jill just nodded and waved goodbye. But as he walked through the gate, she couldn’t help but think of all the horror stories she’d read at Chestnut’s over the years. And how many of them started with innocent travelers asking for directions in creepy old castles.

Oh well, they were all just stories anyway. Jill lifted her book back up and jumped to the next paragraph on the page. As she read on and on, she soon realized that she was just reading the same sentence over and over again. And why wouldn’t she? All she could think about were all those books about creepy old castles. And how a lot of them were home to vampires or ghosts or ghouls or monsters or --

She threw the book down, yanked on her coat, and ripped open the door of the carriage. She flew out the door, through the iron gate, past the hedges and roses...until her legs got tired and she had to slow to a pant. Finally, she reached the front door. Strangely, it wasn’t locked.

She pushed the door open with a slow  _ creeeeeeak. _ Aside from the light flowing in from the late afternoon, the foyer was completely dark. And messy too, like a hurricane had come in and ripped and smashed everything. Weren’t nobles supposed to have a staff of maids or something?

As she walked in, she left the door open in case she needed an easy out. The only problem was that even with her cloak, it was still cold outside. And dark. And quiet. And lonely. And --

Something landed on her foot, something small and sticky. Her legs tensed. Her head slowly moved down to see...a tiny young octopus perched on her shoe. 

The octopus raised a tiny tentacle and waved. “Hello!”

Jill screamed, and then the octopus joined in too. 

_ Whoosh!  _ The door behind her slammed shut, and the fireplace in the foyer roared to life and illuminated the whole room. Now perched around her in a circle was a whole little army of octopi, although the seven around her were full-grown.

A short brown octopus with sharp hazel eyes and an even sharper knife raised his voice. (He was the only one with a weapon on him.) “Who are you and why are you here?”

Jill balled her hands into fists. She would  _ not _ be intimidated by a bunch of cephalopods. “My...My name is Jill and I’m here to see my uncle. He came in here a little while ago to ask for directions.”

“Oh, you mean the tall skinny guy who our brother put in the dungeon?” another piped up. This one was tall and thin, with green eyes and very curly black tentacles. The short one bopped him on the head with one (knife-less) tentacle. The tall one grunted. “I’m Klaus by the way, and this little darling is Five.”

“And I’m Claire!” the young octopus on Jill’s shoe piped up. “Allison is my mom.”

“Alright Claire, that’s enough,” Allison (presumably) called out. The tips of her tentacles were a bright blond yellow, which faded into the light brown coloring on her head. Claire’s tentacles were the same shade of brown as her mother’s.

“Well um, it’s nice to meet you all,” Jill said. “And wait, did you say  _ dungeon?? _ ”

The eight of them all dashed off towards a door at the end of the foyer, which led down a creaking staircase to the cold and stony dungeon. As they walked, Jill tried her best not to stare at her new welcoming committee. 

The tallest (and stockiest) was a blond-tentacled octopus with dull blue eyes named Luther. Next to him walked a shorter octopus named Diego, with light brown tentacles and scars along one of his brown eyes. Even shorter than him (but still taller than Five) was a brown eyed and brown tentacled octopus named Vanya. All of them could talk, and all of them were super weird. But they said there was an eighth among them, another brother…

“I told you, I am  _ not _ a  _ spy! _ ” Elliott’s words echoed up the stone walls of the staircase. Jill jumped. Someone was accusing her uncle of being a spy? 

“Yes, but that’s exactly what a spy would say,” a voice hissed back in a dry tone. “How much did The Handler pay you to break into my house?”

“I don’t even know who The Handler  _ is. _ ”

The voice groaned, and it soon turned into a low gurgling sound. Like something a sea creature would make, Jill thought as they rounded the end of the staircase. Then again, all of his siblings were octopi. It would only make sense that their brother would also be some sort of --

_ “Ahhhhhhh!” _ Jill couldn’t help the scream that ripped out of her throat as she got her first look at the man -- no, the  _ horror _ \-- keeping her uncle captive. He looked like a monster straight out of those books about eldritch creatures that she always read around Halloween. What was that one monster’s name again? Cthulhu. He looked like Cthulhu, with a brick-red octopus head and claws on an otherwise human body. 

The beast turned sharply at her scream. For a moment she thought his eyes softened and saddened, but that was soon replaced with sharp anger. “And who is  _ this? _ ”

Jill clenched her shaking fists. “I’m his niece. That man you’re keeping captive is my uncle. I….I want you to please let him go.”

He shook his tentacled head. “Five years go by with not a single visitor from the outside world, and then two _ just happen _ to waltz right through the open gates. I will not take that chance.”

“Jill!” Elliott called out. “Really. It’s okay. It --”

Jill rushed over to the cell and grabbed his hands through the bars. “No. No. I’m gonna get you out of here. I won’t let you  _ die _ in --”

“Jill, really, it’s okay. I mean --” He looked back at his captor. “Now at least I know for sure that creatures from other worlds really do exist. Uh, no offense.”

The beast sighed. “None taken.”

“But Uncle, there has to be something I can do, I mean…” She drew back a hand and wrapped it around a cell bar. “Take me instead.”

“What?” both men exclaimed.

“Jill sweetie, you don’t know what you’re --”

“Yes I _ do, _ Uncle.” She let go of the bar and her uncle’s hand. “Let him go and I’ll stay here instead. You can question me all you want.” Her voice cracked, and she swallowed. “Just please, please don’t hurt him.”

The beast furrowed his brow. “You would sacrifice yourself like that?”

“Well…” She looked down at her russet-brown dress and played with one of the black buttons on the front. “You have family too. Siblings. Wouldn’t you do anything to keep them safe and out of danger?”

Silence. Neither of them said anything, and Jill refused to look up to see what faces the beast was or wasn’t making. After a long while, he walked to the cell and unlocked Elliott’s door. “Go.” Elliott dashed out of the cell and grabbed Jill into a gripping hug. The two of them cried into each other’s shoulders for a while, until Elliott finally let go. The beast’s brothers all stiffened up and escorted him back to his carriage.

“So,” Jill started. “Lord, uh, Beast, will I be sleeping in that cell too?”

He looked down at his two sisters, then back to Jill. “No. You’ll be sleeping in my sisters’ old room, if that’s alright with you.”

“Oh, well, thank you. That would certainly be a lot more comfortable.” She walked over to Allison and Vanya, ready to dash out of here and into a hopefully very soft bed.

“And Jill?” he called. The girls all turned around. “I don’t go by Beast. Call me The Horror. Everyone who finds me in this castle does.”


	4. The Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i know it's been 84 years since i last updated, so sorry! but between school and life stuff it's been hard to find the time (or motivation lol) to work on this story. but ch 4 is here now, and i hope you enjoy it!

Jill followed Allison and Vanya up the stairs, still in a daze. The three of them walked through a long gray hallway, until finally the octopi stopped in front of the second-to-last door on the right side. Vanya reached up a tentacle and turned the doorknob. Inside the lavender-painted room were two cushy purple canopy beds. 

“This, uh, used to be mine and Vanya’s room,” Allison explained. “Now we share my bed with Claire.”

“Luckily there’s enough room on it so the three of us are all still spread out,” Vanya cracked. “So you can have my bed. It’s the one closer to the window.”

“Thanks.” Jill sloshed her feet against the tan carpeting, kicking off her boots once she got close to the bed. She then face-planted straight onto it and immediately began yelling into a goose-down pillow. 

The two sisters looked at each other. “Uh, Jill?” Vanya piped up. Jill continued to shout and sob into the pillowcase. Allison sighed. “We’ll leave you alone for a bit. Let us know if you need anything.”

Jill didn’t know how long she sat there, shaking and crying. But when she noticed that one side of the pillowcase was practically drenched, somehow that made her stop. She wasn’t sad anymore. She was still upset, of course, but now she was mainly just….tired.

Letting out a shaky sigh, she flipped herself over so she was lying on her back. She burrowed herself under the deep purple blanket and closed her eyes. 

***

_ When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t in bed anymore. She was standing in the middle of a grand garden, with fat green hedges and multicolored flower buds. Snow still fell from above, but for some reason she didn’t feel cold at all. Tiny white flakes fell onto her arms, her hair, her face, but it was just like dust. Neither cold nor hot, just there. _

_ “Oh it worked, thank God it did.” _

_ Jill startled at the voice behind her. Usually the only people in her dreams were people she’d met before, but this voice was completely different. It sounded young though, around her age. When she turned around, she saw her guess was correct. Standing behind her was a young man around her age, tall and finely dressed in princely attire. His bright brown eyes looked up at the sky as not-snow nested in his dark hair. She had no idea who this person was, but something about him made her trust the man. He wasn’t scary like the horror in the castle was. _

_ “Uh, what worked, exactly?” Jill asked. “Do you -- do you work for him?” _

_ The stranger blinked. “Work for who?” _

_ “The Horror. The….creature in the castle?” Scary as he was, it still felt rude to outright call him a beast. _

_ The stranger burst out into laughter. He had a nice smile, Jill noted, big and wide and -- “No, no, I don’t. Though I do get why you’d think that. Actually I’m --” He froze. “Actually I --” His jaw tensed and his hands curled into shaking fists. He stood painfully frozen for one blink, two blinks...then sighed. “Of course. Part of the spell is that I can’t  _ tell anyone _ about that part.” _

_ “What part?” Jill asked. “Are you in danger?” _

_ “I--” He took a step closer to her. “I don’t think I can tell you that part either.” _

_ “So what can you tell me?” Jill’s eyes flashed. _

_ “Well…” He took a few more steps towards her and grabbed her hands in his. Jill tried _ not _ to let it show how her heart did a somersault at this. “Jill. You have to listen, because I don’t know how much time is left in this dream. One way or another, both of us are trapped inside this cursed castle. But it’s not The Horror you have to watch out for, or his squid siblings.” _

_ “It’s not?” _

_ “I know, I wouldn’t trust monsters like that either at first glance,” he sighed. “But it’s the truth, I guess. The only way to get out of here is to work with them to --” _

_ The snow started falling faster and faster. Suddenly the pair was up to their ankles in it, then their waists… _

_ “What do we do now?” Jill sputtered, coughing out snow as it rose towards both of their chins. _

_ “It’s time for you to wake up now! But you’ve got to remember one thing,” he looked her dead in the eyes, “Do not be fooled by appearances.” _

Jill woke up from her nap with a start and a shout.

“Jill?”

She yelped again, sure another avalanche was about to flood through the open door -- but it was just Allison and Vanya again.

“Um,” Allison started, “we realized that if you’re gonna be living here for a while, you’re going to need new clothes. If you look in our closets I have lots of gowns that I’d be happy to let you borrow….”

“And I have lots of suits you can borrow too,” Vanya added. “We know that living here with...with us seems really scary --”

“But we’re here to help you get acquainted. If you want it of course,” Allison finished.

“I’d like that a lot. Thank you,” Jill replied. Trusting The Horror seemed out of the question, but she definitely was starting to like his siblings.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! let me know in the comments what you think so far, or come yell with me about this criminally underrated ship on tumblr @ dumpsterbagel


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